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Caldwell 52

Slightly larger than the Andromeda galaxy, this massive elliptical distorts its neighbors with its gravitational influence.

Distance

40 million light-years

Apparent Magnitude

10.9

constellation

Virgo

object type

Elliptical Galaxy

Caldwell 52
NASA, ESA, and C. Sarazin (University of Virginia); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

Located in the constellation Virgo, Caldwell 52 is the first Caldwell object (numerically) that resides in the southern celestial hemisphere (south of the celestial equator). This elliptical galaxy is visible from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, appearing highest in the spring for northern observers and in autumn for southern observers. It lies roughly 40 million light-years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 10.9. The galaxy’s core can be spotted with a small telescope in a suburban sky. From a darker location, the galaxy appears as an elongated patch of fuzz.

Caldwell 52 (NGC 4697)
Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) image of Caldwell 52 (NGC 4697) appears at the bottom. Hubble also observed the central part of the galaxy with its Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). A white rectangle in the ACS image shows the area imaged by WFC3. At top center is an infrared (IR) view of the galaxy’s center. In the top right is a composite of WFC3 and ACS observations of the galaxy’s core in visible and infrared light.
ACS image: NASA, ESA, and C. Sarazin (University of Virginia); WFC3 IR image: NASA, ESA, and B. Boizelle (Texas A&M University); WFC3/ACS image: NASA, ESA, B. Boizelle (Texas A&M University), and C. Sarazin (University of Virginia); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

This image is a mosaic created using several infrared and visible-light observations made by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. Astronomers used these observations to detect globular star clusters within the galaxy, which appear as star-like specks throughout the image.

Star chart for Caldwell 52
This star chart for Caldwell 52 represents the view from mid-northern latitudes for the given month and time.
Image courtesy of Stellarium
A star chart shows Caldwell 52 as seen from the Southern Hemisphere in the northern night sky in May at 10pm
This star chart for C52 represents the view from mid-southern latitudes for the given month and time.
Image courtesy of Stellarium

Glossary

Apparent Magnitude – The brightness of an astronomical object as seen from Earth, influenced by the object’s distance from Earth, its absolute magnitude, and even gas and dust that lie between the object and Earth.

Elliptical Galaxy – A nearly featureless, spherical or football-shaped galaxy, typically lacking new star formation and often containing much older stars than those in spiral galaxies.

Globular Cluster – A spherical group of stars that are gravitationally bound to each other, with most of the stars concentrated at the cluster’s center.

Supermassive Black Hole – A black hole millions or billions of times more massive than the Sun, typically residing at the center of a large galaxy.

Explore Hubble’s Caldwell Catalog

The following pages contain some of Hubble’s best images of Caldwell objects.
Caldwell 1

Also known as NGC 188, this group of stars formed from a large cloud of gas making the stars roughly…
Caldwell 2

This shell of gas is expanding outward, away from the dying star within.
Caldwell 3

This barred spiral galaxy was first spotted by British astronomer William Herschel in April 1793 in the constellation Draco.

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